UNC coach Mike Fox hasn’t had as much to cheer this season about as he usually does

The North Carolina baseball team lost its NCAA tournament opener 6-1 to Long Beach State in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday, a result that was anything but a surprise considering that coach Mike Fox’s team is only the No. 3 seed in a four-team regional hosted by the heavily favored Florida Gators.

Suffice it to say, it would be one of the major upsets of the 64-team event should the Tar Heels advance through the loser’s bracket into a Super Regional next week.

That’s not the kind of situation to which UNC is accustomed, having been to the College World Series six times in the last seven years. But discounting lofty preseason predictions that are more often based on past performance rather than actual potential, the 2014 season is not the major disappointment one might automatically assume it to be.

We’re not talking N.C. State here.

While the rival Wolfpack overachieved at underachieving by finishing below .500 in the ACC despite having the projected top pick in the upcoming Major League draft on the mound every Friday and a first-team All-America shortstop, UNC’s current 34-26 record is much more in line with the team it put on the field.

Keep in mind that the Tar Heels lost six players from last year’s roster to pro ball, including first-round pick Colin Moran and third-round selection Kent Emanuel, the ACC’s Pitcher of the Year.

At least those setbacks were expected. The hit that did the most damage was the one that came out of left field just 23 games into the schedule.

Closer Chris McCue missed most of the season with a blood clot in his shoulder

More specifically, it came out of the bullpen when closer Chris McCue underwent season-ending surgery to treat a blood clot in his right shoulder.

It also didn’t help that two of the team’s top freshmen from last season – outfielder Skye Bolt and third baseman Landon Lassiter – saw their production drop off considerably during sophomore seasons in which they were asked to carry a heavier offensive load.

Are those excuses? They could be construed as such.

But the fact of the matter is that this was as close to a rebuilding year as it comes at a power program the lines of UNC.

And yet, despite a batting order littered with freshmen and sophomores, and a pitching staff that never really solidified itself, the Tar Heels still found a way to play well enough down the stretch – including a pivotal one-run decision against State in an ACC tournament play-in game – to earn one of the final at large spots in the NCAA tournament field.

“You know, we’ve been knocked down some but I’ve ever sensed that we did not have confidence – that we (couldn’t) win and play well and reach our goals,” Fox said during a session with the media before leaving for Gainesville. “I think if coaches have to go into the locker room and say, ‘We’re a good team,’ you’re in trouble. I never sensed that with this team.”

Regardless of how things turn out the rest of this weekend, that confidence will serve the Tar Heels well as they look to bounce back in 2015. So will the arrival of a strong recruiting class that – if it lives up to its highly rated potential – can help return UNC to the national prominence of which it is accustomed.